Minister Hails Healthcare Team

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, has lauded the nation’s healthcare team for their tremendous effort to protect Jamaicans in the weeks leading up to and in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Category Five Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, 2025 and caused catastrophic damage, especially in the western areas of the island.

“Through the National Health Emergency Operations Centre we entertained, very quickly, over 600 international medical personnel, deployed an additional 500 local healthcare workers into the zone, rescued some 96 Jamaicans from life threatening injuries. With the support of the JDF (Jamaica Defence Force), 10 persons were airlifted from Black River Hospital and an additional eight persons in the first 72 hours post hurricane impact,” he said.

The Minister was making his contribution to the 2026/27 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, recently.

He further disclosed that the team attended to more than 8,900 persons in makeshift Accident and Emergency (A&E) tents, and temporary medical posts, while taking care of over 3,000 patients who were in hospitals, in the first 24 hours.

“We did so while we had to serve some 3,300 inpatients immediately after the hurricane. All this while some 3,000 healthcare workers in the zone were themselves victims of the storm and their family members and, therefore, had to be tended to also. We coordinated the deployment of some 42 non-governmental organisations (NGOs),” he disclosed.

He said within the first week of the hurricane the team deployed a field hospital in

Black River, adding that three others were deployed in the weeks after.

Dr. Tufton further noted that approximately 177 public health inspectors were deployed in the field to contain the expected waterborne disease, leptospirosis. He added, as well, that 1,100 vector workers were also deployed as part of the Ministry’s vector management efforts to prevent the outbreak of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases.

“It’s a reality that we often overlook. I call on this House and Jamaica to say thanks to the health team who responded. We are better than most and sometimes we don’t accept or realise it. I want to say thanks personally as Minister and on behalf of the Government,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the Government remains committed to building back the country’s health infrastructure, noting that this will be done in three phases: Restore, Rehabilitate, and Reconstruct.

“We are building back stronger,” he said, noting that the Restore phase has taken place.

He noted that the other two phases are work in progress. “We have teams in the field doing critical assessment, engineering assessment of our buildings and also to determine a path going forward to build back even stronger,” he said.